Nail-plate



lJ'NiTED STATES PATENT @Tricn.

J OHN COYNE, OF ALLEGHENY, PENNSYLVANIA.

NAIL-PLATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part. of Letters Patent No. 331,9e4, datedDecember 8, 1885.

Application filed September 24, 1885. Serial No. 177387. (No model.) I

To all whom it may concern..-

Be it known that I, JOHN CoYNE, residing at Allegheny, in the county ofAllegheny and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen of the United States,have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements inNail-Plates, of which improvements the following is a specification.

In the accompanying drawings, which make part of this specification,Figure 1 is a plan View of my improved double nail-plate. Fig. 2 is atransverse sectional view of the same. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of asingle nail-plate. Figs. 4. and 5 are similar views of a modified formof the plate, applicable to the manufacture of railroad and otherspikes.

The object of my invention is to provide a nail-plate of such form andconstruction that nail-blanks having two parallel and two convergingsides may be cut therefrom without turning the plate, thereby avoidingthe waste arising from butts or plate ends; and it is a further objectof my invention to so construct the plate that the nail-blank when outwill present unoxidized surfaces to the gripping and heading dies.

Referring now to Fig. 3, the single nail-plate is made of a widthslightly greater than the length of the nail to be produced. The sidesof such plate along one edge, which, for convenience, I term the headedge, are made parallel, as shown at 2. This parallelism of the sidesshould extend inward sufficiently far to provide the amount of metalnecessary for the formation of the head; but the sides of the remainingportion of the blanki. 6., that portion designed to form the body of thenailare inclined, converging toward each other, as shown at 3, Fig. 3.It chisel-pointed nails are desired, the sides are beveled off along thepoint edge, as shown at 4.. The plate thus constructed is fed into anordinary nail-machine, and the nail-blanks are out off by a series ofparallel cuts, and are then headed by suitable dies, being held duringsuch heading operation by gripping-dies acting on that portion of theblank having parallel sides. These nail-plates are made of steel orBessemer metal by means of suitable grooved rolls, and as the plates arethicker at one edge than the other,

and'would therefore curve or bend in the direction of the thick edge inpassing through the rolls, I prefer to roll the plates double, as shownin Figs. 1 and 2'i. 6., of a width sufficient to form two nail-blanks.In the double plates 1 that portion intended for the forma tion of theheads is formed along the middle portion of the plate, the sides alongsuch middle portion being made parallel, as shown at 5, and thisparallel portion 5 is made sufficiently wide to provide the metalnecessary for the formation of two heads. From this central parallelportion the sides 3 of the plates converge toward each other, toward theedges of the plates. This double plate, which is double the width of thesingle plates shown in Fig. 3, and therefore adapted for the formationof two nail-blanks, is out along the center of the parallel portion 5,the line of out being represented by dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2, thusforming two single nail-plates, such as is shown in Fig. 3. These doublenail-plates are not only more easily rolled than the single plates, butby making the middle portion of the plate thick, for the formation ofthe nailheads, and then cutting the plates apart along such thickportion, clean-cut surfaces are presented to the heading-dies, therebypreventing the destruction of the dies by the scale formed on the rolledsurfaces.

In heading nails the gripping-dies grasp the nail on its parallel sides,which in the ordinary nail-blank are covered with scale formed in therolling operation; but as the nail-blanks are cut from my improved blankby a series of parallel cuts, the gripping-dies do not come in contactwith the scalysurface, but with the parallel-cut surfaces, therebypreventing the rapid wear of the dies from contact with scales oroxidized surfaces.

Another characteristic of the nails produced in the manner above statedis that the parallel sides of the nail, which are principally relied onfor holding the nail in wood, are rough, being the cut surfaces, in lieuof comparatively smooth rolled surfaces, as in the ordinary nail.

In the plate shown in Fig. 4, which is adapted for the formation ofspikes having parallel sides for the greater portion of their length,the central portion, 5, is made considerably wider, as shown, and in theplate shown in Fig. 5, adapted for the formation of railroadspikes, theplate is made thicker along its central portion, 5, thus providing anincreased quantity of metal for the formation of the large headsemployed in such spikes. This form of blank t'. 6., that shown in Fig.5-is"a1so applicable to the manufacture of horseshoe nails.

I claim herein as my invention- 1. A nail-plate having its side facesparallel to each other through so much or such part ofthe width of theplate as is 'h'ece ssary' for the formation of the nail-head by asubsequent upsetting action, and having its sides 3 inclined toward eachother from the parallel-sided portion to the edge of the plate,substantially as set forth.

2. A nail'plate having its middle portion, 5, formed with parallelsides, the remaining 20 portion 3 of said sides inclining toward eachother from said middle portion to the edges of the plate, substantiallyas set forth.

3. A nail-plate having its middle portion formed with parallel sides 3,and ribbed, as 25 described, the sides of the plate on each side I ofthe middle being made tapering to the edges of the plate, substantiallyas set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN COYNE.

\Vitnesses:

DARWIN S. WoLooTT, R. H. WHITTLESEY.

